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Video: Pastor cancels Quran burning

Transcript of: Pastor cancels Quran burning

CARL QUINTANILLA, co-host:Terry Jones
, the pastor of a small church in
Gainesville
,
Florida
, planned to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 by burning copies of the
Quran
. On Thursday, after worldwide condemnation and appeals to stand down, Pastor
Jones
called it off. Pastor
Terry Jones
and his
assistant pastor
,
Wayne Sapp
, are here this morning. Gentlemen, it's good to see you. Good morning.

Pastor TERRY JONES (Dove World Outreach Center):Thank you.

QUINTANILLA:Lot of people wondering what you're doing in
New York
today.

Pastor JONES:Yeah, we have come here with the hopes of speaking with the imam. We feel that we have somewhat of a common denominator in the fact that most people do not want the mosque near
ground zero
. And, of course, I assume all Muslims do not want us to burn the
Quran
.

QUINTANILLA:So is there a meeting between you two?

Pastor JONES:There is not. We have been trying to set up one.

QUINTANILLA:Trying to set up meeting. There are voice mails exchanged. Is there -- what's the possibility...

Pastor JONES:Yeah, we have -- we have a couple of people who are working on it who are mediating the situation.

QUINTANILLA:But you came to
New York
in the hopes that a meeting would happen...

Pastor JONES:Right, right.

QUINTANILLA:...not because a meeting's happen....

Pastor JONES:No, there is no meeting. We just have that hope that one will take place.

QUINTANILLA:The burning was scheduled to happen tonight...

Pastor JONES:Right.

QUINTANILLA:...right around 6:00.

Pastor JONES:Right.

QUINTANILLA:Is it going to happen?

Pastor JONES:We have decided to cancel the burning.

QUINTANILLA:Why?

Pastor JONES:Yeah, we feel -- we feel that whenever we started this out, one of our reasons was to show, to expose that there is an element of
Islam
that is very dangerous and very radical. I believe that we have definitely accomplished that mission. Even though we have not burned one
Quran
, we have gotten over 100
death threats
, we see what is going around in the whole world even if we do it. We feel a little bit -- if you're familiar with the story of
Abraham
, we feel a little bit like --
Abraham
was also called to do something very crazy. I mean, God told him to go to the mountain and sacrifice his son. Of course,
Abraham
was much wiser than us. He told no one.

Pastor JONES:Yeah. So he got to the mountain. He started to do it, and God told him to stop. So we feel -- we feel we have accomplished our goal. We were obedient. We feel that God is telling us to stop. And we also hope that with us making this first gesture, not burning the
Quran
...

QUINTANILLA:Yes.

Pastor JONES:...to say, 'No, we're not going to do it'...

QUINTANILLA:Not today, not ever.

Pastor JONES:Not today, not ever. We're not going to go back an do it. It is totally canceled. We hope that through that maybe that will open up a door

to be able to talk to the imanabout -- yeah, about the
ground zero
mosque.

QUINTANILLA:So there are -- you can guarantee us today that there will never be a burning of the
Quran
at your church.

Pastor JONES:I can absolutely guarantee you that, yes.

QUINTANILLA:Wayne
, is this -- Pastor
Jones
talks about an element of
Islam
being radical. Are you now saying that the religion itself is not radical in and of itself?

Associate Pastor WAYNE SAPP (Associate Pastor, Dove World Outreach Center):I believe there are some teachings that are carried on throughout the entire religion. They are as -- as there are in denominations in
Christianity
-- there are facets in
Islam
as well that push one element more than others. But that element is
still alive and well
throughout the entire religion.

QUINTANILLA:We've been criticized in the media, perhaps fairly, that we gave you a microphone and made you basically an international name, well-known in this country certainly, and that that was publicity for your church, that you've been toying with us with these on-again, off-again pronouncements; 'Is he going to burn? Is he not going to burn?' Was it for publicity?

Pastor JONES:Absolutely not. We were 100 convinced -- 100 percent convinced that this was a -- this was a type of a -- of a mission. We believe very much that there is
Shariah law
, that there is an element that is -- that is very, very radical. I am of the opinion it is much larger than our politicians and our news media would like for to us believe.
And I
believe that we have -- we have -- we have well, well proved that point by the reaction worldwide.

QUINTANILLA:You arrived at
La Guardia
last night amid lots of security. The security around here this morning has gotten very intense. You've gotten 100
death threats
, you've said. You're a reviled man and you're a wanted man in some places.

Pastor JONES:Right.

QUINTANILLA:How much of that is part of this decision? Did -- were you scared into it?

Pastor JONES:No. No, no, we already -- we definitely did not realize that all of this would take place. Of course not. But we knew that if we went in this direction that our life could be threatened or would be threatened, we could possibly even get killed. I think the fact that we changed this decision -- we felt as though God was telling us to do this. I don't believe that has changed the
death threats
against us.

QUINTANILLA:Right.

Pastor JONES:I believe that we have already went too far to change that.

QUINTANILLA:If this mosque is still built, which you clearly oppose, you
still will
not reverse your decision, you
still will
not burn the
Quran
?

Pastor JONES:We will definitely not burn the
Quran
, no.

QUINTANILLA:Bottom line for the church,
Wayne
, is this going to create more members for your church or result in fewer members?

Assoc. Pastor SAPP:Well, one of the things I'm hoping that this creates is that there are strong passions in religion, and people really need to get back to the text of the
Bible, the
text of the
Quran
. What do they -- what do they actually believe? What is in there? Or are they following an element that probably really God did not want us to follow?

QUINTANILLA:Well, you made some news this morning, gentlemen. We appreciate your time coming in.

Pastor Terry Jones told NBC's TODAY show on Saturday that his church in Gainesville, Fla., would not burn Qurans in protest to the building of an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

"We will definitely not burn the Quran, no," he said.

"Not today, not ever," he said when pressed about whether his planned demonstration might happen at a later date. He explained that it would not happen even if the Islamic center is built near ground zero.

Jones flew to New York to appear on NBC's TODAY show and told interviewer Carl Quintanilla that there was no meeting set up with New York Imam Faisal Rauf.

He said he hoped a meeting would take place, however.

"Even though we have not burned one Quran, we have gotten over 100 death threats," Jones said. "We feel that God is telling us to stop, and we also hope that ... maybe that will open up the door to maybe be able to talk to the imam."

Jones said that his church's goal was "to expose that there is an element of Islam that is very dangerous and very radical."